46% of men surveyed admit to lying about what they’ve read to impress a partner. Matt Yglesias is surprised the percentage isn’t higher:
I wonder if you see a substantial difference based on educational attainment here. It seems to me that college (at least as we did it at Harvard) largely consists of lessons on how to pretend to have read various books. How many section discussions of British Moralists 1650-1800 (by far the best introduction to the subject!) did I bluff my way through?
I’ve certainly bluffed my way through many a class, although I typically made an effort. But even in grad school, when I actually was diligent and studious, I found that getting through all the material was really dang hard and I read faster than the average person, that said I have friends, and a person I’m marrying, who are faster than I.
That said I don’t recall ever lying about what I read to impress a friend or potential romantic interest; I’m inclined to just ask for more detail about it or mention something I have read. Makes for easier conversation really.
Anyways, I do actually think college could do with more training on how to get through the material. Either by teaching us better skimming skills or speed reading. To the degree that neither are trained, many will simply learn to bluff. Not that bluffing isn’t a valuable skill in its own right, but we currently have an over-abundance of sources of BS.
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